My guest David Ansel, VP of Save the Sound Center for Water Protection and their policy lead in New York State.  David has been active this legislative session in CT and NY.  focusing primarily on three budget-related items, clean water infrastructure spending, opposing NY Governor’s Hochul's  proposed rollbacks of both New York’s Climate Law and the state’s 50-year-old State Environmental Quality Review Act that serves as a Sunshine Law for proposed development projects, ensuring that the public is informed and allowed to participate in the process. 

Peter Linderoth, Director of healthy waters and lands for  Save the Sound. 

First of all In my opinion, we're very lucky to have Save The Sound on the beat protecting our wonderful Long Island sound. 

in case you're not aware of Save The Sound,  they  lead environmental action in our region. They fight climate change, save endangered lands, protect the Sound and its rivers, and work with nature to restore ecosystems…. part of that is monitoring water quality in our area.

So to  that end  Peter is here today to talk about Save The Sounds most recent Beach Grades for water quality at more than 200 public and private beaches based on data collected during the 2025 swimming season. 

Next up  is my guest David Ansel, VP of Save the Sound Center for Water Protection and their policy lead in New York State.  David has been active this legislative session in CT and NY.  focusing primarily on three budget-related items, clean water infrastructure spending, opposing NY Governor’s Hochul's  proposed rollbacks of both New York’s Climate Law and the state’s 50-year-old State Environmental Quality Review Act that serves as a Sunshine Law for proposed development projects, ensuring that the public is informed and allowed to participate in the process. 

Peter Linderoth, Director of healthy waters and lands for  Save the Sound. 

First of all In my opinion, we're very lucky to have Save The Sound on the beat protecting our wonderful Long Island sound. 

In case you're not aware of Save The Sound, they lead environmental action in our region. They fight climate change, save endangered lands, protect the Sound and its rivers, and work with nature to restore ecosystems…. part of that is monitoring water quality in our area.

So to  that end  Peter is here today to talk about Save The Sounds most recent Beach Grades for water quality at more than 200 public and private beaches based on data collected during the 2025 swimming season. 

On this episode of DITD my guest is Rob Hopkins. Rob Hopkins is a British writer and permaculture advocate best known as the co-founder of Transition Network and the author of The Transition Handbook. He has helped inspire community-led sustainability efforts around the world through his work on resilience, local economies, and practical climate solutions. His latest book is How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveler's Guide to Changing the World . It’s presented as the follow-up to his book  From What Is… to What If and focuses on imagination as a tool for building better futures.

Then Real Food CT’s Founder, Sean Fitzpatrick joins me.  Sean has 20 years of experience as a nutrition, health, and fitness coach. His career has been based on his  passionate belief that access to nutrient-dense food is an absolute necessity for the health of this and future generations. Sean’s business experience, along with his observation that growing numbers of people are experiencing food insecurity, combined to make Real Food his life work.

First up on DITD is Rob Hopkins. Rob Hopkins is a British writer and permaculture advocate best known as the co-founder of Transition Network and the author of The Transition Handbook. He has helped inspire community-led sustainability efforts around the world through his work on resilience, local economies, and practical climate solutions. His latest book is How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller’s Guide to Changing the World,  . It’s presented as the follow-up to his book  From What Is… to What If and focuses on imagination as a tool for building better futures.
Then Real Food CT’s Founder, Sean Fitzpatrick joins me.  Sean has 20 years of experience as a nutrition, health, and fitness coach. His career has been based on his  passionate belief that access to nutrient-dense food is an absolute necessity for the health of this and future generations. Sean’s business experience, along with his observation that growing numbers of people are experiencing food insecurity, combined to make Real Food his life work.

This episode of “Digging in the Dirt.  is all about the soil. My first guest, Dr. Amelia Magistrali, is the Soil Health Extension Educator at UConn who is developing new programming through her role as the connector between the UConn Soil Lab and farmers and growers in the state. She conducts many on-farm consultations, while supporting people to collect and interpret soil sampling results.

Next up.  My guest is a huge supporter of WPKN. He has provided prizes for contests that we've had here at the station and donated products for us to use as premiums during fundraisers. He is Joe Magazzi President and founder of Green Earth Ag And Turf and the website Growitnaturally.com. We talk organic amendments for your soil.

Every day is Earth Day. 

Digging in the Dirt celebrates the little blue ball we live on with a collage of voices from expert guests from past Digging in the dirt shows. Listeners, friends & family and major environmental groups speak to what Earth day means to them. Plus a mix of great music to inspire action . 

My first guest is someone who's been here before, His name is Vincent Dion. Vincent is a well known Connecticut artist and a serious gardener and Bee keeper. When he drops by it's because he and I are going to talk gardening.  I'm met Vincent through my colleague and fellow Gardener Joseph Celli. We have never met in person, but have become fast friends remotely because we are kindred spirits. 

   We're talk spring prep in the garden.  What I'm doing and what he's doing in our respective gardens. Listening to our chat may help you with a few ideas and maybe better ways to garden. 

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My next guest is Caty Poole of Valley Community Gardens  who after more than two decades in the life sciences industry, Caty followed her passion for equitable food access to Massaro Community Farm in Woodbridge Ct.  where she spent 11 years leading and growing food and farming programs. Now a Master Beekeeper,  she has a  Master’s level certificate from The Institute of Sustainable Nutrition. 

She focuses her energy on teaching cooking and nutrition courses at Valley Community Gardens, a collective of public gardens serving the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Connecticut, focusing on sustainable, local food production.

Welcome Judith Enck who is  a Professor at Bennington College in Vermont. She is the President of Beyond Plastics and former EPA Regional Administrator, appointed by President Obama. Professor Enck is author of the new book "The Problem with Plastic: How to Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late”